LAS LENGUAS INGLESA Y ESPAÑOLA de Delfín Carbonell

  Every language has its own native mistakes—errors foreigners rarely make—which reveal a speaker’s social and cultural standing. These mistakes serve as useful clues, helping us judge whether someone belongs to our circle or not. In this sense, we should be grateful for them. Editors, constantly exposed to poor writing, are in a privileged position. Awkward sentences, faulty grammar, and ill-formed expressions not only betray weak education but also make it easy to dismiss a piece. One might even argue that institutions failing to teach proper language deserve to be held accountable. Common errors abound—misused pronouns, redundant expressions, incorrect agreements, and illogical constructions. Such mistakes should never appear in serious writing. And yet, these very errors are oddly comforting. They allow us to feel competent, even superior. Spotting “everybody in the room were drunk” can bring a quiet satisfaction: we know better. In a way, other people’s mistakes boost our ...

 My Random House Dictionary defines the suffix -proof as “a combining form meaning resistant or impervious to that specified by the initial element”: burglar-proof, child-proof, waterproof. An example I often cite is foolproof —something that even a fool cannot bungle, however hard he tries. Bulletproof, fireproof, rainproof, glitch-proof: the list seems endless. The Spanish equivalents a prueba de and resistente a would generally suffice. In view of current world developments, I found myself paraphrasing Thomas R. Marshall’s famous line about national needs and arriving at the conclusion that what the world requires is good dictator-proof constitutions. I grant that such constitutions may be difficult to draft and implement; nevertheless, taking advantage of both the plasticity of English and Marshall’s cadence, I venture to suggest the necessity of tyrant- and dictator-proof mechanisms, so that people may live free.

I always found William F. Buckley (1925-2008) unbearable, effete, and pedantic to the full extent of those words. His manner of speech was patronizing and stuck in his high horse. He is described by Wikipedia as "an American conservative writer, public intellectual, and political commentator." He always gave me the impression that he thought he was above the riffraff, the ragtag and bobtail of the American public. An obnoxious character. Check him out on YouTube. Today I listened to an interview he held with Jorge Luis Borges (1899-1886), again on YouTube , that treasure trove of arcane information. I was struck upon hearing Borges in English. He had the cadence, and sing-song musicality of Argentinian Spanish transferred to the English language, slurring most words into obscure sounds. Whether an interview is successful depends on the interviewer as much as on the interviewee and in this instance, Mr. Buckley blundered. Still, I urge you to hear Borges in English.     ...

Los hispanohablantes se quejan (su deporte favorito) de que el castellano ya no es lo que era. Nada es lo que era, afortunadamente. ¡Qué diría Cervantes si leyese un periódico de hoy! Yo mismo que soy un "criticón" me sonrojo con las barbaridades que escribimos en español. Pobrecito idioma.  Pero tenemos un consuelo por aquello de que mal de muchos, consuelo de todos. Y hoy, que ando un poco alicaído, he estado navegando la red y he leído en inglés: "... included the case of one women..." Y yo me digo, si estos nativos no saben la diferencia entre "woman" y "women", ¿cómo pueden carcajearse del extranjero? "... if we are suffering? Tell me how is the poor living?)"  Me llevo las manos a la cabeza: "The poor, the rich, the dead, the tall..." se refiere a muchos. Eso lo sabe cualquiera, excepto el nativo que ha escrito esto en un periódico de Sudáfrica. "Following a yearslong investigation into..." Mejor "a year-l...

  When man noticed how practical language was, he decided to name everything, and has not stopped since. So, everything has a tag, a label, a name. The picture I have chosen is a "tree" in English, "Baum" in German, "arbre" in French and Valencian, "árbol" in Spanish, "albero" in Italian... and so on and so forth... about 6,500 different names for that picture, corresponding to the 6,500 languages we have globally. Some labels for this image seem exotic: "mti" in Swahili, "drzervo" in Polish, "puno" in Tagalog... That picture of the tree will remain the same, but man has named it in 6,500 different ways. This is a trivial piece of news, but worth bearing in mind, and is more important that meets the eye. More trivia: if each language has an average of 75,000 words, the total of vocabulary adds up to 487,500,000.- 

Crutches and fillers are words or expressions people use in their oral communications although they add nothing of value to what is being said. "Uh, er, you know, you know what I mean, ok, right, like..." and many more, which are very distracting and often irritating. Probably these occur in every known language and form part of speech, for reasons unknown. Spanish has "¿sabes?, ¿me entiendes?, ¿sabe usted? (shortened to sausté)" and others. Of late TV has given free reign to "evidentemente" and adopted by politicians, comentators and analysts who sprinkle their empy talk with plenty of this filler. "El gobierno, evidentemente, sabe lo que hace... Evidentemente la economía va mejor... Y le dijo, evidentemente, que ya nada era igual... Los turistas vienen, evidentemente, en busca de sol..." I often count the number of times I hear this crutch and find that it is used by the same person up to 6 times in a short speech. Change channels if yo...

I have expressed my dislike for the English many times. I have no liking for the English at large, for private reasons. I say English, not British, mind you. And yet, a paradox, I admire them. They have character traits that leave me in awe: they have a boundless curiosity for everything, they have discipline, they are hardworking, they have created the best universities and scholars in the world, a wonderful educational system, the Oxford English Dictionary , a riveting literature, and the language. What else could we ask for? Today is a sad day because the English are leaving the European Union, and dragging Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland along with them. A pity. We cannot congratulate ourselves. Today Europe is the less, as John Donne put it: "... every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main; if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less..."

It has accurred to me that you might think I am petty and that I focus on language trivia when I point out the errors, typos, or faux pas of writers of prestige. But I have a grudge, an ax to grind, against the English-speaking intelligetnsia. They are uppity, stubborn, ivory-towered and believe themselves to be tops... but they are not. Most hold on to the stupid assumption that being a native is enough. I like Dr. Irvin Yalom ´s The Schopenhauer Cure . He knows how to spin a good yarn. He has good dictionaries of synonyms which he uses constantly. He enthralls me with his pedantry. In short: I like him. But why on earth would he write "Schopenhauer said that a highly attractive women..."? In his Acknowledgments he mentions many people who read the trypescript of his novel and offered suggestions, corrections and the like. But nobody read this line: "Schopenhauer said that a highly attractive women..."? The Publisher, HarperCollins, probably has no proofr...

NOBODY y everybody y somebody, someone... ... singular, como “todo el mundo” en castellano. Everybody seems happy. Everyone has a plate. Everybod y loves somebody. Y más importante todavía: If someone comes, tell him I am busy. Someone has forgotten her umbrella. También son singulares anybody, anyone, nobody, no one, somebody, someone, each. Nobody loves a loser. Each has an Apple. Someone is eating soup in the kitchen. Por cierto que a nobody es un don nadie . No lo olvidemos y de paso podemos consultar mi GRAMÁTICA INGLESA de Anaya

El servicio militar obligatorio -draft- ya no existe en los países desarrollados, y su influencia en el habla de los jóvenes ha desaparecido también. Y eso se nota en las traducciones. Las Fuerzas Armadas españolas se pasearon -para bien y para mal- por el mundo y los reclutas gritaban "a la orden, mi capitán" o "mi teniente..." que ahora, gracias a los traductores televisivos que no han hecho la "mili," se han convertido en "Sí, señor..." "Yes, Sir, Captain, Sir" se traduce en televisión por "Sí, señor, capitán, señor..." en vez del castizo "A la orden, mi capitán" de toda la vida. "Captain, sir" = Mi capitán "Aye, aye, captain, sir (in the Navy) = A la orden, mi capitán Cuando un GI dice a un superior "Yes, sir" hay que traducirlo por "A la orden." En castellano no damos el tratamiento de "señor" a un militar. And I stand to be corrected, of course.

Negative adverbs: never, seldom ever, hardly, rarely, not only, nor, nowhere. Estos adverbios pueden abrir una frase para dar énfasis, y en ese caso se invierte el orden como si fuese pregunta: I seldom work on Sundays - Seldom do I work on Sundays She will never do that again - Never will she do that again You will find this nowhere else - Nowhere else will you find this I seldom visited her in those days - Seldom did I visit her in those days We rarely drink after six - Rarely do we drink after six. He insulted me and also took my car - Not only did he insult he also took my car.